Crowd Comments is an interactive commenting platform that helps brands build vibrant communities around their content. To learn more about Crowd Comments as a contributor, go here. If you’d like to install Crowd Comments on your blog, go here.
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In an ongoing effort to encourage authentic, relevant discussion, we’re rolling out the following updates.
Updates are based off of feedback from contributors and partner blogs. All updates are intended to align with our primary objectives to:
- Help our partner blogs build vibrant communities, and
- Provide a positive and fun environment for contributors to earn rewards
Updates for July 22, 2016 include:
- Added New Awards: Introducing Fresh and Prime comments
- See a “leaf” or “lightning bolt” icon at the top of a thread? That thread is in Fresh or Prime state
- Leave a comment during either state and get 10 coins instantly
- Each contributor can only earn one Fresh or Prime award per thread (not both)
- Made Milestones and Rank Simpler: Milestones now only earn Rank, not Coins
- Because earning 3 or 5 Coins didn’t feel meaningful, Milestones now just contribute to your Rank
- Ranking up earns Coins
- Rebalanced Rank Up Rate: Updated rate points are earned to next Rank
- Each Rank up now generates 25 Coins
- Rank is important! Some Milestones, Awards, and other actions unlock at certain Rank levels
- Rebalanced Coin Value: Because Coins are easier to earn now, the value has been reduced
- 100 Coins is now worth $10
- Coin conversion will take place on Thursdays. Email [email protected] when you’ve reached at least 100 Coins to have them converted on the following Thursday!
- To help with the transition, we’re increasing current Coin balances on all accounts by 2.5X immediately!
- General Notes:
- We will continue to adjust the model based on feedback from contributors and partner blogs
- Some Milestones that were being abused have been capped or limited in other ways
- We will continue to add new Milestones and Awards — (Milestones and Awards for authors are coming soon!)
If you are a contributor, please remember to read and understand the Commenting Guidelines before participating.
Thank you for your continued participation in Crowd Comments! As always, please email any feedback to support, or leave a comment below.
Doe Richard says:
I’m eager to see how this all pans out. I’m sure it’s in the best interests of all stakeholders!
Earl Dotson says:
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to know right now how it’s going to pan out? Tom Petty was right – “the waiting is the hardest part.”
Doe Richard says:
I agree, waiting is not easy. But then again, I think they’re still studying interactions and other community behavior that’s tricky to predict. May be in the end, they’ll come up with rules and an algorithm that produce the best results for everyone.
Linnea S. says:
Yes, I think they must be enhancing and improving the algorithm. It’s gotta be challenging to design a program to assign numeric values to contributions to a blog commenting conversation. How would you go about it?
Earl Dotson says:
I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t actually know how to design a program.
Doe Richard says:
Computer programming is not as tough as many people think. Actually, the hardest part in the creation of any software is understanding the issue being solved and coming up with logical solution for it. Once there’s a logical solution in terms that are easy to grasp, programmers can implement it using a preferred programming language (software).
Linnea S. says:
I was a programmer for oh SO many years. By far the hardest part was getting the person requesting the program to clearly define what he wanted the program to do.
Doe Richard says:
Certainly, system analysts find the going very tough when their clients are unable to meaningfully help with problem definition phase.
Earl Dotson says:
Your use of all caps suggests the experience was long and not terribly pleasant. Why a person requesting a program would be unable to say what they want that program to do makes no sense. Who should know better than that the requester?
Linnea S. says:
I really enjoyed programming. I used caps just to express my amazement at how many years I’ve been working! The person who requests a report or an update process often has not thought through what they want the program to accomplish. It’s not their fault, because they are busy doing the job that they’re skilled at. For example, let’s say Sue requests “a nice screen that will show all of our employees and their job history, dates of employment and total months employed.” When she meets with the programmer, all sorts of specific issues come up that she now realizes she must consider. Will every data field fit on the screen? Which fields to include and exclude? What if the employee had three periods of employment? Who will be allowed to view sensitive fields?
Earl Dotson says:
I took a computer science class in college and struggled so much I had to drop it before I failed it. I’m unsure if I could do better more than a decade later.
Doe Richard says:
Were you introduced to computer programming or just applications? I remember in my first year, some programming languages were tricky to grasp. The good thing was that we were learning several languages at the same time; so a concept you do not get in a particular language might become clear when you’re introduced to another.
Doe Richard says:
I’d start by studying contributions patterns in the community. Human behavior is so difficult to predict!
Georgia Potts says:
This is a little confusing right now, but I’m sure we’ll get used to the changes.
Rachel Elle says:
It is a little confusing. I guess we’ll see in time!
auntieemily says:
I agree. It seems a little hard to understand.
Clayton Lainsbury says:
Hi guys, we’re actually hoping this makes things more straightforward now. Yes, keeping with our “game” mentality, there will still be some unknowns to the platform, areas for discovery, etc, but the advantage for Contributors now is that you can clearly see when a significant earning opportunity is available. When you see a “leaf” or “lightning bolt” icon, you can earn 10 Coins for leaving a comment at that time… straight up. 🙂
Christine Birch says:
Hmm. Not sure how this will work out, but we’ll give it a try!
Earl Dotson says:
It will definitely be interesting to see what happens. It will also be interesting to see what other changes are in store for us.
Rachel Elle says:
I’m a little bummed the value is changing, but I’m excited to see how things add up now under the new rules!
It's All Write says:
Yeah, the value is what got me, but with the extra coins added, and supposed new simplicity in earning, hopefully it will balance out.
Rachel Elle says:
That’s my hope! It was always a little confusing, so I’m okay with new updates to learn as long as still get to benefit from our awesome contributions.
Earl Dotson says:
I don’t want to sound like a complainer, but the changed value has got me bummed out as well. Hopefully I’ll adjust to it soon enough.
Georgia Potts says:
Yeah, I feel like I just got used to the old system.
auntieemily says:
Agreed. We’ll just have to see how it works out.
Clayton Lainsbury says:
Although we’ve stated before that the value of Coins can and will change at times, we’re doing our best to change it as infrequently as possible. With the recent updates, and the fact that you can now earn 10 Coins for a single comment during Fresh or Prime state, a change was necessary, and we felt this level was fair / rewarding for Contributors. We hope everyone sees it the same way, but will be listening to feedback as we go forward. Thanks for all the input so far!
Bethany A. says:
Will be looking for the leafs and lighting bolts now. Good to know the updates, but I’m sure it will take some getting used to to figure them all out.
Earl Dotson says:
It’s good in a way to have to adjust to new rules. Doing so helps keep our minds sharp.
Doe Richard says:
I’ve already spotted and “used” a leaf, I’m waiting on a lightning bolt. :?)
It's All Write says:
I guess I’ll just go with it. I didn’t really understand what earned coins before, and it’s a bit confusing now. I’ll just do what I do and see how it works out.
Earl Dotson says:
You and me both. What’s confusing to me is how we advance in rank. I’m sure there’s a system behind it, but I can’t figure out what it is.
Rachel Elle says:
Yes! I love seeing my percentage increases for new milestones, but I have no earthly idea how it’s determined.
Earl Dotson says:
I find that when my percentage increases I don’t really care how it’s determined. When it’s not increasing and I feel it should, I’m very interested in how.
Christine Birch says:
Agreed. At this point, I don’t bother trying to figure out how they’re accumulated, I just see what happens.
Earl Dotson says:
Clayton is right that earning three or five Coins didn’t feel meaningful. Logging in to your account and seeing that you’ve earned, say, 50 or 100 Coins is one thing. Logging in and seeing that you’ve earned less than 10 is something else entirely.
Rachel Elle says:
I agree. Especially when you thought a milestone would bump you up to a new level, when really it just gave you 3 coins and 5%.
Earl Dotson says:
Yes, you couldn’t help but be disappointed when that happened.
Earl Dotson says:
Have Fresh and Prime comments started yet? If so, how often is a thread going to be in a Fresh or Prime state?
Rachel Elle says:
I think so, because I got 10 coins for my post on this thread!
Doe Richard says:
Talk about hitting the ground running!
Earl Dotson says:
Did you see a leaf or a lightning bolt anywhere on this page? I didn’t.
Rachel Elle says:
There was one, right next to the pictures of people who have commented up at the top. Looks like it’s gone now.
Earl Dotson says:
Thank you. Did you happen to see that on a computer or on a smartphone?
Rachel Elle says:
Desktop, but I didn’t look on mobile.
Clayton Lainsbury says:
Yes, they have definitely started! The icons will appear under the comment count when signed in (to the left of and below your username / image).
Earl Dotson says:
That’s great! Thanks for answering my question! Otherwise, I likely never would’ve found the icons.
Linnea S. says:
I hope the updates will be helpful for all of us writers. I’m enjoying the interesting conversations that we share, and I find the client blogs very informative.
Rachel Elle says:
I am, too. It’s fun getting to know the rest of the Crowd Content community!
Doe Richard says:
I guess, no amount of “workplace” fun beats learning while earning!
tomysole says:
I never really paid much attention to how the system actually worked in the first place. I just tried to add value in each of my comments and hopefully during the course of doing so I could earn a little extra.
Earl Dotson says:
I must admit, I envy you. I think too much about how the system works (that’s not to say I’ve gained much understanding of it). I think I’d be much better off if I just focused on what I can contribute.
Linnea S. says:
I think that’s very wise of you. It probably is better to approach blog commenting it that way, and results in a more natural conversation.
Clayton Lainsbury says:
Great comment! This approach really is what we’re trying to generate through this platform… if we’re designing it properly, taking this approach should help Contributors level up quickly and earn a high number of Coins. Well done, tomysole.
Charlie Parker says:
Saved for future reference. This is a learn-along-the-way sorta thing.
Earl Dotson says:
That’s one of the most frustrating ways to learn, I think. But if it’s the only available option, what can you do?
auntieemily says:
The changes sound interesting… I just hope that they work out well for all of us.
Earl Dotson says:
We’ll find out soon enough if they do. If they don’t, the good news is Crowd Content will likely make the necessary adjustments.
Doe Richard says:
So far, so good!
Doe Richard says:
Just asking, do you guys think there’s a time the use of graphics and emojis as part of our Crowd Content community contributions will make sense?
Rachel Elle says:
Oh, that would be fun. A little less professional, but still fun.
Doe Richard says:
The rules can be bent, don’t you think? In any case, companies have now extended their data-mining “exploits” to cover previously uncharted waters of customer emotions. They’re letting customers, not only comment, but also express what they feel about their brands, and this is where emoticons and emojis come in. Of course, not every company is doing this, but I’ve heard that Facebook is actually tracking emotional reactions by users of the social networking platform, and it may be selling the extracted data to third parties. I don’t know if that’s true, anyway.
Earl Dotson says:
Is there any way to know which threads are in Fresh or Prime state, or do we simply have to search through the threads until we find one that is?
Clayton Lainsbury says:
We don’t have a list yet or central place to see all the Fresh and Prime articles. However, this is definitely on the road map. It will be part of the Contributors’ dashboard coming in the future. What I can tell you is that they will usually (but not always) be newer articles.
Earl Dotson says:
Thanks for letting me know. I’ll definitely be looking for that list on the dashboard. However, I have another question. I’ve posted three comments on a page with a lighting bolt icon and haven’t received any additional Coins. Why is that?
Clayton Lainsbury says:
Hi Earl, I’ve notified support about this. They will reach out to you ASAP to help. I’m not sure if you had already commented on the article in question, but keep in mind that you can only earn one Fresh or Prime award per article (and not both). If you hadn’t and this is a bug, we will get it fixed up right away. Check your email for more info. Thanks!
Clayton Lainsbury says:
Also, we’ve just made some minor tweaks… so you should see more Prime and Fresh opportunities out there! Remember to check our partner blogs too, not just the CC blog. You can find most of our partner blogs here: http://feedly.com/communityhub
Earl Dotson says:
More Prime and Fresh opportunities? I’d say outstanding, but that doesn’t seem like a strong enough word!
Doe Richard says:
I’ve enjoyed commenting on several partner blogs, though some of these do not have recent content.
akmoyer91 says:
I was not aware of other partner blogs ! I am new, still trying to learn and navigate around–So thank you for the up-to-date information . 🙂 Although, when signing in, is there a particular way I must login ? Here, we just use our CC credentials. I am not seeing this option on feedly. Thanks in advance !
Wendy says:
Well I didn’t really even know about this until today when I received an email. Looks fun. I’m still learning the ropes on it. But I enjoy reading and engaging in blogs!
Allison McClure says:
This is a brilliant way to help partner sites build discussion and improve their search engine rankings. Perhaps Crowd Content should provide notifications when new blogs add the Crowd Comments plugin — that would help them see faster results!
James William Ledbetter says:
I agree with Doe. This might be fun.
pastorjamesledbetter says:
I agree with Doe. This will be fun.
wlrahilly says:
I do have a question. I’m just getting into this and like the idea of being able to contribute blog posts. It says 400 SP per approved post. Is there a limit/daily cap on how many posts you can contribute daily/weekly, etc.?
wlrahilly says:
Just wondering if anyone saw my question here? I’m curious to know and I didn’t see it anywhere in the guidelines. Thanks!
Tay H says:
This has sparked my interest! fantastic idea for encouraging discussion.
Earl Dotson says:
I must say I am loving Fresh and Prime comments. Having previously worked for days without seeing a Coin increase, I love being able to earn 10 Coins instantly by commenting on the right threads.
Rachel Elle says:
I agree! Although I think I’m only getting 10 coins when my level changes… Maybe I should email support.
Earl Dotson says:
You definitely should email support. My level almost never changes, but I get 10 Coins every time I make a comment on a Fresh or Prime page. Don’t miss out on what you’ve earned.
wlrahilly says:
I see the same thing. It seems I’m only getting credited for the prime/fresh pages I post on. I haven’t seem much change in levels or anything. I’m still a little confused but I’m figuring the more you contribute and engage, the higher chances of you leveling up? I don’t know. That’s just what I’m assuming.
Linnea S. says:
I received no coins when my level went up yesterday, so I emailed support. I hope there will be a resolution soon.
melissann says:
This is a great way for us writers to actually learn some new information while making a little cash at the same time. Thanks!
Earl Dotson says:
Last night and this morning I have made comments for the first time on threads that were either Fresh or Prime but haven’t earned Coins for them. Why is this?